It is commonly thought that teenagers are involved with dangerous and destructive behavior. Being a teenager myself, I cannot necessarily disagree with this, however one misconception is that access to condoms is essentially a free pass for kids to have intercourse and encourages other possible dangerous behaviors. I do not agree that this is true, as this can be interpreted different ways. Access to condoms allows for teens to use these safeguards in their lives. Many condom packages are labeled with what diseases and unwanted consequences can happen if a condom is not used. This by no means promotes teens or young adults to participate in other destructive behaviors, but does let them know that sexual intercourse can be dangerous if precautions …show more content…
Teaching abstinence as sexual education only deprives teens of very important knowledge they will need for the rest of their lives. Allowing teens to purchase condoms gives them the ability to be safe when doing such behavior. Prohibiting access to condoms would then cause for kids to have sex without the ability to be safe. Several teens will participate in some sort of sexual activity while they are young, and I believe allowing them to purchase condoms will allow them to stay safe while having these experiences. Teens will see this as a protectant from a potentially dangerous behavior rather than it being a gateway to more high-risk behavior. I firmly believe and informed decision maker is the best decision maker. When teens are informed of consequences, this can certainly deter them from doing bad behaviors or taking and precautions necessary. Condom packaging today has valuable information about what can happen if condoms are not used. This shows the teen that this kind of behavior has risks and should not be taken lightly. I feel this opens up the eyes of teens as to how risky behavior can impact the rest of their lives. I think this will cause teens to think more deeply about any actions they take and how it can have a negative impact on
There are several benefits to making birth control easy to obtain for teens. The drop out rate of pregnant teens will decrease. The number of teens living on welfare and in poverty will decrease which in return will lower the amount of money allocated by the federal government to assist teens with federal aid. Another benefit of reducing the number of teen pregnancies is the amount of money schools will save on providing daycare to those students for free. Many schools have on campus daycare that provides meals and school for the children of teenage mothers. The money saved from this could provide more teachers or even help the current teachers keep their job. The best benefit of all is they can enjoy their teen years, focus on their education and hopefully go to college someday.
As a result of the unsuccessful overly funded abstinence only programs, teens fail to use contraception. This leads to increased pregnancy rates. Students and teens fail to use contraception because they are not informed of its importance and how to access it. This is why many people feel it is important to replace abstinence only with comprehensive sex education.
This is a fact confirmed by the CDC (“About Teen Pregnancy”). It is also a fact that teen pregnancy continues to decline every year at an incredible rate. This could definitely be due to sex education and the availability of birth control without parental consent. Janice Shaw Crouse wrote about a D.C. area study which shows that abstinence programs have been effective. This data showed that girls in this program were seven times less likely to engage in sexual activity than girls that were not in the abstinence program (“Birth Control” 115). This proves that abstinence can help in the fight against teen pregnancies and the spread of STD’s. I do agree with this being a great tool in this fight yet, it will not keep our kids safe. Some of our kids will still choose to be sexually active and we need to prepare them for this choice.
Teens having access to contraceptives would decrease the number of teens developing an STI. Contraceptives would also decrease the number of teenage pregnancies. In the article, “At Issue: Birth Control Availability,” the author states that birth control is necessary to lower the number of teen pregnancies. The author informs “Those who favor providing easy access to contraceptives say that young people who are already sexually active will not abstain from sex just because they don’t have access to birth control and will instead put themselves at risk for pregnancy” (“ProQuest”). Teens will continue to have sex, but providing contraceptives would lower the number of teen pregnancies.
Birth control has prevented many unwanted teen pregnancies, “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, teen births in the United States reached a historic low in 2015, which can be explained in large part by an increased use of contraception among young people” (Gebelhoff, Robert). As of right now, women have to get a prescription to get oral contraceptives from their doctor. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, this movement to make access to these contraceptives is supported by them. Although, teenagers are more likely to use birth control pills compared to using condoms, they are not being influenced by their sexual or emotional pressures. This article also says, the public-health benefits from
About 40 percent of sexually active teenagers admit to not using any form of protection (like a condom) during their last session. Behavior like this leads to higher risks of pregnancy or even
In the last decade or so, however, the growing awareness of the dangers of AIDS does appear to have contributed to a decline in the rates of sexual intercourse among teens. The Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that between 1991 and 2005 the percentage of teenagers who are sexually active dropped from 57.4 percent to 46.3 percent among males and from 50.8 percent to 44.9 percent among females. The rates of pregnancy, abortion, and sexually transmitted disease among teens have actually dropped even faster than the rate of sexual activity. So it appears that, in addition to postponing sex, teens are also becoming more responsible in their sexual activities. For example, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 87.5 percent of teens were either abstinent or used condoms. Of course, that means that 12.5 percent of teens were still having unprotected sex, but that is a significant improvement over past decades. Similarly, although the rate of teen pregnancy has declined, more than 11 percent of the babies born in the United States
Teens have difficulty grasping the consequences of unprotected sex for themselves, their parents, family members and possibly their unborn child. Unprotected sex among teenagers in El Paso has become an issue seeing as they are not receiving the right information they need to know about sex and how to prevent it, sexually transmitted diseases can be passed on through sexual contact in which can be harmful and be passed on from one person to another, and teen pregnancy and STD’s bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children. Nowadays social media and technology seem to really take a toll on teenagers, the both has impacted teens in a way that it is all they are on. My proposal of fixing this solution is getting the message across through social media and doing presentations at different schools, this will impact teenagers mostly because this is the generation where social media has become a part of their lives. To those with low education about unprotected sex, will pay attention to what is being said, which will be no problem since Google and the internet are there to provide answers to their questions. Lastly, teens do not pay attention to adults in general, but if they listen to what a teen has to say then they will most likely understand, thus a presentation at their school will help them learn more.
Teenagers should have access to birth control devices. The most compelling argument against this thesis is the idea that they are not emotionally mature enough to be having sex at all, in that it is a meaningful commitment that should be only taken up by adults who have the ability to consent fully and understand the consequences of their behavior. Additionally, sexual behavior contains a lot of risks of many different natures. There is the emotional risk of engaging in such intimate activity, with concomitant development of feelings that may not be reciprocated or healthy. There is also the physical risk of disease. For heterosexual women, pregnancy is an emotional, physical, and economic strain that could severely derail a promising
Many questions and concerns have come about regarding this promotion of condoms being distributed in public schools. Will it lower teen pregnancy rates? Will condoms reduce sexually transmitted diseases? Will the distribution of condoms in public
Today, sexually active teenagers can get contraceptives to protect themselves from unplanned pregnancies or sexual diseases without a parent’s permission. In some states federal lawmakers have taken away the ability for teens to protect themselves, they want to prevent sexually active teenagers from getting birth control and condoms unless they get parents permission. Preventing teens from getting contraceptives unless they tell a parent will not stop them from having sex. It will drive them away from the services they need to protect themselves, leading to higher rates of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases
In this day in time it is not an uncommon sight in my school to see a young girl with a baby bump. Or when you hear of that someone has contracted an STD it is not that surprising. My mom speaks of a time when someone contracted a STD it was handled like a death sentence. Also whenever a young girl became pregnant after she started “showing” you would not see her until after the baby was delivered. I believe that there are countless factors to why many teens in my Community are more vulnerable to having risky sex, such as the media, lack of activities and peer pressure. I believe that since most teens between the ages of 13-18 are in school for eight hours out of the day five day a week and many parents are at work when they arrive home until late at night that this issue could be addressed at school. So I believe that schools should pass out condoms to high school students.
Thesis Statement: Condoms and contraceptives should be freely given to high school students because of its effectiveness against the risks they face caused by their sexual lifestyle of today.
The topic of condom distribution in public schools has caused many heated debates throughout our country in the last decade. Proponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will ensure that teenagers will practice safe sex and that the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy will decline. Opponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will encourage sexual activity and foster the idea that premarital sex is acceptable. Judges in federal court have even considered whether or not condom distribution and sex education without prior parental notification violates parents' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The only viewpoint absent in a discussion of this
Students that are sexually active need to have access to condoms to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases. Teens have problems with birth control for several reasons, and because of this lack of birth control teens are more susceptible to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.